Amnesty International and India

This report is an introduction to Amnesty International and its concerns in India. It answers basic questions about Amnesty International: its role as a non-governmental international human rights organization; its worldwide membership, its mandate for action, its campaigning methods; and its work and membership in India.The bulk of the report deals with human rights violations that Amnesty International has documented in India over several decades. It shows that violations such as torture, including rape, and deaths in custody remain endemic, and that political prisoners continue to face unfair trials. It highlights a legal and judicial system that facilitates these and many other abuses, often allowing the perpetrators to act with impunity. Even the safeguards that do exist are regularly disregarded. The report also summarizes human rights abuses committed by armed opposition groups. Human rights violations affect most sections of Indian society, with people from some groups, particularly the socially or economically disadvantaged, being especially vulnerable. In a complex society of approximately 920 million people, speaking dozens of languages and dialects, living in 25 states and seven union territories, not everyone has equal access to justice or an equal chance to be allowed to live in safety and with dignity.